TV Open Thread: Camelot – “Justice”

In this week’s episode of Camelot, “Justice,” Morgan (Eva Green) and Sybil (Sinead Cusack) try to create some plot interest with Morgan’s plight of being an overlooked female. But her character is such a head case, and evil to boot, that it’s hard to connect with her as a feminist heroine, no matter how much of a goofball her nemesis Arthur (Jamie Campbell Bower). And is he. Arthur has absolutely nothing kingly or leader-ly about him. He keeps telling everyone around him that he is their king, but do they believe him? Morgan sure hopes not and I’m neither convinced nor impressed. Whenever Arthur and the gang are on the screen Camelot has the air of a Little Rascals production, “Hey kids, let’s create a kingdom!”

Camelot is far from the worst show on television, but with all of the high-profile, and much more involving, lavish period productions running on cable these days (Game of Thrones, The Borgias) Camelot is easily and quickly forgotten. I’ve compared it to the less-monied more pop-sci-fi series Merlinbefore, and frankly, Camelot still comes up lacking. As much as I like Joseph Fiennes and acknowledge the depth he is trying to bring the character of Merlin, Merlin the series is simply more entertaining to watch. And shouldn’t that be the point? Somehow, in all of the casting, costume, set design, and overwrought dialogue, Camelot has forgotten that very important point.